An increasing number of students now have access to Education Savings Accounts (ESAs), a policy reform that puts education funds directly in families’ hands to use at the school or education provider of their choice. A new report from Patrick Graff of the American Enterprise Institute argues that teachers deserve similar support and flexibility through Read more about Teacher Spending Accounts: Supporting All Teachers[…]
Education Evolving has released a new guide designed to address the unique opportunities and challenges that face school administrators using collaborative and distributed leadership models. The guide-which draws on the expertise and experience of eight administrators from teacher-powered schools around the country-is intended for any site administrator working at, creating, or converting to a collaborative leadership model Read more about Collaborative Leadership for Thriving Teams[…]
Recently in The 74, Erin Figula wrote an opinion piece detailing three ways district leaders and administrators can authentically support teachers. Excerpts of the piece appear below: Increase Access to Meaningful Professional Learning While 84 percent of teachers say they wish they had access to more professional development opportunities, they’re not looking for more one-time Read more about Supporting Teachers So They and Their Students Can Thrive[…]
A new Statistics in Brief from NCES highlights changes in teacher autonomy, satisfaction, job security, and commitment between 1999–2000 and 2011–12. The report focuses on patterns between perceived level of autonomy and perceptions of job security, satisfaction, and commitment. It relies on a sample of U.S. public school teachers using data collected through the 1999–2000 Read more about Teachers’ Perceptions of Autonomy, Satisfaction, Job Security, and Commitment[…]
AFT’s Barnett Berry and Kim Farris-Berg have produced an article that details the history of teacher-powered schools, the research supporting these innovative models, and examples of successful implementations. An excerpt appears below: The Center for Teaching Quality and Education Evolving have created the Teacher-Powered Schools Initiative to raise awareness of the opportunity for teachers to Read more about Teacher-Powered Schools[…]
A new OECD report, Supporting Teacher Professionalism, based on the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), examines the nature and extent of support for teacher professionalism across 34 countries. Teacher professionalism is defined as the knowledge, skills, and practices that teachers must have in order to be effective educators. The report focuses on lower secondary Read more about Supporting Teacher Professionalism[…]
The National Council of Education Statistics (NCES) has released Public School Teacher Autonomy in the Classroom Across School Years 2003–04, 2007–08, and 2011–12. This report traces the feelings of public school educators when it comes to their own autonomy in the classroom. According to the report brief, larger percentages of teachers perceived low autonomy in 2007-08 Read more about NCES Releases Statistics in Brief on Public School Teacher Autonomy in the Classroom[…]
In 2016-17, the Opportunity Culture initiative included more than 110 schools, 1250 teachers, and 34,000 students in 17 sites across 7 states. According to the Public Impact website, Opportunity Culture schools are defined by the following characteristics: Teachers lead the way. Each Opportunity Culture school creates a team of teachers and administrators who decide what Read more about Opportunity Culture Initiative Update[…]
Frank Bruni has penned a piece highlighting the teaching shortages that have made the news around the country in recent weeks. The shortages are so acute in some places, both urban and rural, that teachers are being brought in who are not even fully certified yet. After researching and talking with various noted education professionals, Read more about Can We Interest You In Teaching?[…]
A new Education Week special report explores the growing interest among many educators and school leaders in altering the conventional understandings around what teachers do. In particular, it looks at the ways districts, schools, and teachers themselves are transforming teachers’ positions—and the types of supports available to them—in order to drive organizational change, build capacity, Read more about Ed Week Special Report on Transforming Teachers’ Roles[…]
The State Educational Technology Directors Association (SETDA), in partnership with Creative Commons U.S., recently released a policy brief for state and district education leaders focused on strategies for equipping educators to effectively and legally navigate the use of digital content. The brief, Clarifying Ownership of Teacher-Created Digital Content Empowers Educators to Personalize Education, Address Individual Read more about Who Owns Teacher-Created Content?[…]
Education Evolving launched the Teacher-Powered Schools Initiative at the Education Writers Association’s 67th National Seminar’s “Teachers Take Charge” panel discussion. The launch is especially timely given the release of Education Evolving’s new national survey data that that reveal overwhelming public support and teacher interest in a professional partnership model of teacher leadership, or “teacher-powered schools.” Read more about Teacher-Powered Schools Initiative[…]
As demands on teachers increase, schools across the country are expanding their calendars to give teachers more time to collaborate and develop new skills. Recently, NCTL unveiled its newest report at an event in Washington, D.C. co-hosted with Teach Plus. Time for Teachers: Leveraging Time to Strengthen Instruction and Empower Teachers looks at how expanded-time Read more about Time for Teachers: Leveraging Time to Strengthen Instruction and Empower Teachers[…]
How can we extend the reach of our most effective teachers? Are there ways to restructure their time, role, and pay in order to allow these teachers to interact with more students? In this month’s issue brief, we focus on new ideas for restructuring the role of teachers to allow the very best to “touch” Read more about January Issue Brief: Teacher “Reach”[…]
TNTP has recently released the results of a new teacher survey, but it’s not your typical teacher survey. TNTP published “The Irreplaceables” in 2012 to look at how urban schools neglect top teachers. This study led to further questions concerning what high-performing teachers in high-need schools think about their classrooms and careers. So TNTP reached Read more about Perspectives of Irreplaceable Teachers[…]
The professional lives of teachers have recently been flooded with “the new.” With new standards, new curricula, new evaluations, new assessments, and all the other changes that take place on an annual basis in schools and districts, very little remains constant from year to year. In this sea of changes, teachers must not be left Read more about July Issue Brief: Teacher Voice[…]